AROUND THE LEAGUE.

A's in 1st after wild one in West

August 12, 2005

When Francisco Rodriguez dropped a simple return throw from his catcher, Oakland sneaked into first place all by itself with perhaps the strangest win anyone had seen in years.

Jason Kendall alertly dashed home from third base with the winning run when the Angels' miffed closer flubbed the easy toss, and the A's took sole possession of first in the AL West with a 5-4 come-from-behind victory Thursday.

"I've never seen that in my life . . . ," Kendall said.

Eric Chavez hit a tying three-run homer in the seventh for the Athletics, who rallied from a four-run deficit. Chavez was at the plate again in the ninth with two runners on and two out. After Rodriguez's first pitch was called a ball, the right-hander nonchalantly stuck out his glove for catcher Jose Molina's throw -- but it glanced away.

Kendall, watching at third, sprinted home and beat the throw. The victory caps a surge of 20 wins in 23 games since the A's trailed Los Angeles by 81/2 games on July 18.

"A 5-year-old could have caught it," Rodriguez said.

Extra innings

Sidelined since late April with an injured right shoulder, Jaret Wright will return to the Yankees' rotation Monday to start against the Devil Rays. . . . Hideo Nomo, tuning up for a possible call up to the Yankees, allowed two runs in six innings in his third start for Triple-A Columbus. . . . Eric Byrnes went 0-for-4, the first time in 12 games with Baltimore that he failed to get a hit. . . . The Royals notched a franchise-record 13th consecutive loss.

Angels' Vladimir Guerrero hit HR, drew 3 intentional BBs, including 1 with none on in 9th; starter Paul Byrd left after 6th with 4-0 lead before bullpen blew it for 2nd day in row. L.A. lost 10th of 16.

Texas 8 at New York 9

W: T. Sturtze (4-1)

L: Baldwin (0-2)

S: Rivera (31)

Derek Jeter's solo HR in 7th won it for Yanks. N.Y. bullpen blew strong spot start by Scott Proctor, who left with 6-2 lead in 6th. He gave up 2 solo HRs to David Dellucci (4-for-5, 4 runs scored).